Experiencing science at first hand

With presentations, charts and models on issues surrounding energy consumption in the state, the two-day 20th National Children’s Science Congress (Kerala) began in the city on Monday.

As many as 68 schools from different parts of Kerala are participating in the competition organised by the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE),

With ‘Energy: Explore, Harness and Conserve’ as the theme, the students had to present their projects on various sub-themes such as energy resources, energy systems, energy and society, energy and environment and energy conservation.

Some schools such as the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kasargod and St Joseph’s H S, Koovapally, Kottayam chose to study the energy consumption in their respective panchayats. They conducted household surveys to find out wastage and conducted awareness camps as follow ups.

The five-member group from P K High School, Mannapra, Palakkad had, in addition to results from a survey of 200 households, made a model of a house run on alternative energy, especially solar energy.

“We used a sun-dial and found that we get approximately eight-and-a-half hours of sunlight a day,” said team member Ardra Ramesh. “So we incorporated that into our model. We have, apart from solar panels for electricity, a solar cooker and solar chimney for cooking.”

This group had calculated the carbon footprint from use of LPG, firewood, kerosene and petrol and worked it out to be over 4000 metric tonnes.

“This is in a small ‘gram panchayat’ area, so what will it come to in a large city?” wondered group leader Rineesha M B.

The projects presented at the Congress were those from the district and block levels. Sixteen projects (10 from the Seniors category and 6 from the Juniors) will be selected for the National level which will be held at Varanasi at the end of the month, according to State Coordinator Hari Narayan.

“From there, two will be selected for the Indian Science Congress, which is in its 100th year, to be held at Kolkata,” he said.The second day of the on-going Congress will see a lecture on ‘How to protect innovations and creations’ by V P Balagangadharan, Advisor VSSC, so the students can learn about patents.

“Some of the projects presented can be made patentable with some more work,” said Narayan. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy inaugurated the event. Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb and DPI A Shajahan were also present.

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